The Development of Possessive Expressions in the Germanic

This paper
The Development of Possessive
Expressions in the Germanic
Languages.
Germanic Possessive -s project (Manchester):
Expression of possession in present-day English and
Swedish
Is possessive -s a clitic, as suggested in much of the
literature (e.g. Anderson 2005, Zwicky & Pullum 1983)?
Historical development of possessive expressions in
the Germanic languages
Alan Scott, Kersti Börjars and David Denison
University of Manchester
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This paper
This paper
Germanic Possessive -s project (Manchester):
Expression of possession in present-day English and
Swedish
Is possessive -s a clitic, as suggested in much of the
literature (e.g. Anderson 2005, Zwicky & Pullum 1983)?
Historical development of possessive expressions in
the Germanic languages
Existing research specifically on the development
The aim of this paper:
Follow and compare the development of possessive
expressions in the Germanic languages
of possessive expressions:
English: Allen (2008) – genitives in Old and Middle English,
comparison with other Germanic languages; Altenberg (1982);
Rosenbach (2002); Rosenbach et al. (2000)
Dutch: Weerman & de Wit (1999)
Swedish: Börjars (2003); Norde (1997)
German: Zifonun (2001, 2005)
general: Delsing (1998); also parts of Allen (2008)
Identify common trends and patterns
Focus on neglected/disputed aspects
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This paper
Structure of talk
Existing research specifically on the development
1. Areal distribution of possessive expressions
of possessive expressions:
2. Chronology of possessive expressions
English: Allen (2008) – genitives in Old and Middle English,
comparison with other Germanic languages; Altenberg (1982);
Rosenbach (2002); Rosenbach et al. (2000)
Dutch: Weerman & de Wit (1999)
Swedish: Börjars (2003); Norde (1997)
German: Zifonun (2001, 2005)
general: Delsing (1998); also parts of Allen (2008)
No existing work follows the historical development
of the Germanic possessive expressions or contrasts
the situations in the present-day languages.
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3. Development of possessive expressions
Genitive case ⇒ possessive -s
Diachronic development throughout Germanic languages
Focus on German and Dutch
Typology of possessive -s
Focus on a recent development in German
4. Conclusions
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Possessive expressions
Possessive expressions
Present-day languages:
Present-day languages:
I. Genitive Case
I. Genitive Case
German: das Buch des Mannes ‘the book the.GEN man.GEN’
German: das Buch des Mannes ‘the book the.GEN man.GEN’
II. Poss-s
Danish: mandens bog ‘the man’s book’
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Possessive expressions
Possessive expressions
Present-day languages:
Present-day languages:
I. Genitive Case
I. Genitive Case
German: das Buch des Mannes ‘the book the.GEN man.GEN’
German: das Buch des Mannes ‘the book the.GEN man.GEN’
II. Poss-s
II. Poss-s
Danish: mandens bog ‘the man’s book’
Danish: mandens bog ‘the man’s book’
III. Co-ref Pron
III. Co-ref Pron
(‘separated genitive’ (Allen 2008))
Norwegian: Stena Line sine overfarter ‘Stena Line’s crossings’
(‘separated genitive’ (Allen 2008))
Norwegian: Stena Line sine overfarter ‘Stena Line’s crossings’
IV. Prep
Dutch: de auto van mijn compagnon ‘my companion’s car’
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Possessive expressions
Areal distribution
Present-day languages:
Variation across space and time
I. Genitive Case
Originally: genitive case found in all Germanic
German: das Buch des Mannes ‘the book the.GEN man.GEN’
languages
II. Poss-s
Danish: mandens bog ‘the man’s book’
III. Co-ref Pron
Present-day: possessive expressions unevenly
(‘separated genitive’ (Allen 2008))
spread throughout Germanic languages
Norwegian: Stena Line sine overfarter ‘Stena Line’s crossings’
IV. Prep
Dutch: de auto van mijn compagnon ‘my companion’s car’
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Ancient periods: genitive case
Genitive case
restricted use
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Poss-s
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Co-ref pron
+ Afrikaans
Atypical Co-ref pron
(left dislocation)
Co-ref pron only in some
dialects
Poss-s restricted in use
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Prep
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+ Afrikaans
Chronology
Similar developments at different times:
All the languages start off with genitive case
marking of possession
Development of prepositional possession marking
Genitive falls out of use in some languages
Development of Poss-s
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Often connected to decline of genitive/case system
(e.g. English, Mainland Scandinavian), but not
always (e.g. German)
Development of Co-ref pron: from body part
expressions with dative? (e.g. Burridge 2003)
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Chronology
Chronology
Genitive and Poss-s
Icelandic:
Genitive and Poss-s
German:
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Chronology
Chronology
Genitive and Poss-s
Dutch:
Genitive and Poss-s
English:
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Chronology
Analysis of Poss-s
Genitive and Poss-s
Mainland Scand. (Danish, Norwegian, Swedish):
Two contrasting views on history of Poss-s (in English):
Allen (e.g. 2008 and earlier work): Poss-s < genitive case
Janda (1980): Poss-s < Co-ref pron (i.e. “his-genitive”)
Cross-linguistically (in the Germanic languages), there
seems to be a link between the development of genitive
case and the development of Poss-s.
Our assumption (following Allen):
Poss-s developed from genitive case
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This position seems to cover the related developments
throughout the Germanic languages.
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Analysis of Poss-s
Development of possessive expressions
Two contrasting views on history of Poss-s (in English):
Allen (e.g. 2008 and earlier work): Poss-s < genitive case
Janda (1980): Poss-s < Co-ref pron (i.e. “his-genitive”)
1. Genitive case ⇒ Poss-s
Cross-linguistically (in the Germanic languages), there
i.
seems to be a link between the development of genitive
case and the development of Poss-s.
Our assumption (following Allen):
Poss-s developed from genitive case
ii.
This position seems to cover the related developments
throughout the Germanic languages.
iii.
Diachronically and cross-linguistically
Present-day German
Present-day Dutch
2. Typology of Poss-s
i.
ii.
Comparison of Germanic languages
Recent development in German
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Genitive ⇒ Poss-s:
Genitive case
Genitive ⇒ Poss-s:
Defining ‘case system’ is tricky
case?
(especially relevant to marking of possession):
Case marking on N and D (maybe also on an A)
Genitive governed by some verbs, prepositions and
adjectives (i.e. not only used for possession)
Uncertainty about which case to use here may suggest
a breakdown of the case system
(e.g. Di Meola 2004 re. present-day German)
Poss-s
How can we identify Poss-s as distinct from genitive
Some characteristics of a productive case system
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More than one genitive marker (e.g. Icelandic)
Only one exponent: -s
-s appears on feminine (and plural) possessors (not just
masc. and neut. singular)
Once-only marking on possessor noun (i.e. no marking on
determiners or adjective in possessor NP)
Marking on right-edge of possessor NP – not necessarily
on head (in English and Mainland Scandinavian; not yet in
German and Dutch [?])
Not governed by verbs, adjectives or prepositions (but cf.
Faroese once-only possessive marker)
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Genitive ⇒ Poss-s:
Genitive in Germanic
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Genitive ⇒ Poss-s:
All Germanic languages start off with a case system
Loss of Genitive
Number of forms of genitive marker is reduced to just
comprising 4 productive cases
nominative, accusative, dative, genitive
+ relics of old cases (e.g. instrumental)
one before once-only marking develops.
Is this a prerequisite for the development of Poss-s?
No languages have a once-only possessive construction
with more than one marker.
Icelandic retains an inventory of genitive markers and
has no once-only possessive construction.
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N.B. German has two productive genitive markers, namely -s
(masc./neut. sing.) and -Ø (fem. sing./all genders plu.), plus
some restricted/unproductive markers, and DOES have Poss-s.
However, German -s IS the only productive physically realised
genitive ending.
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Genitive ⇒ Poss-s:
Loss of Genitive
Genitive ⇒ Poss-s:
Deterioration of case system (every Germanic language except
Icelandic)
Number of cases reduced (e.g. German dialects)
Number of markers of each case reduced:
genitive -s in most Germanic languages
Genitive stops being governed by verbs, prepositions and
adjectives
Constituent order
Order of possessor and possessum in genitive case:
Originally the two could appear in either order
Order generally firms up as possessum – possessor
Icelandic: either order grammatical but possessor –
possessum is stylistically marked
German: new possessor – possessum genitive
constructions are unusual/marked (Zifonun 2005)
??des
Sohnes Hund v. der Hund des
Sohnes
the.GEN son.GEN dog
the dog
the.GEN son.GEN
Poss-s always has possessor – possessum order
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Genitive ⇒ Poss-s:
General developments
Typological/historical pattern:
Case system dies out; Poss-s develops from genitive case
E.g. English, Mainland Scandinavian
Icelandic retains case system and has no Poss-s
Anomalies:
Dutch has lost its case system; retains (limited) genitive
case AND Poss-s
German retains its case system (including genitive):
genitive and Poss-s coexist
Faroese genitive case unproductive; once-only possession
marking is not a development of the genitive
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Genitive in German
Masc./neut. marker -s used with feminine possessors
This is still genitive case (note order of possessor and
possessum)
Schröder kritisiert China-Politik Merkels
‘Schröder criticises China-policy Merkel.GEN’
…dienen die Instrumente als roter Teppich für den Gesang Judiths
‘…serve the instruments as red carpet for the singing Judith.GEN’
Evidence of a genitive in decline (compare descriptions of
older English, Dutch and Mainland Scandinavian)?
Cf. 16th/17th century Dutch:
de vader des bruids ‘the father the.GEN bride.GEN’
(Komen 1997: 406)
Genitive in Dutch
Genitive in Dutch
Freely formed present-day genitives:
Freely formed present-day genitives:
het einde der
liberale dominantie
the end the.GEN.FEM liberal domination
‘the end of liberal domination’
de onbekende wereld der
fietsverhuurders
the unknown world the.GEN.PLU bicycle leasers
‘the unknown world of (the) bicycle leasers’
des
schrijvers voetsporen
the.GEN writer.GEN footsteps
‘the writer’s footsteps’
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Also in spoken language
(examples from Corpus Gesproken Nederlands)
het probleem der
overbevolking
the problem the.GEN overpopulation
‘the problem of overpopulation’
(CGN: fv600879)
de invloed der
atmosfeer
the influence the.GEN atmosphere
‘the influence of the atmosphere
(CGN: fv400595)
(from INL 38 mil. words corpus)
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Genitive in Dutch
Typology of Poss-s
Speaker uncertainty?
Seen diachronically: final stage of development of
Mismatch between determiner number and possessor
number
de mildheid des
jaren
genitive
(e.g. in English and Mainland Scandinavian, but not German)
Possessor-based restrictions vary between languages…
(CGN: fn008413)
the mildness the.MASC/NEUT.SG.GEN years
‘the mildness of the years’
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Typology of Poss-s
Proper
names
Common Adjectival
nouns
poss.
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Typology of Poss-s
Pronoun
poss.
Rightedge
Split
gen.
Proper
names
Common Adjectival
nouns
poss.
Pronoun
poss.
Rightedge
Dutch
Dutch
English
English
Faroese
Faroese
Siggusa(r) bók ‘Sigga’s book’
German
German
Judiths Buch ‘Judith’s book’
Mainland
Scand.
Mainland
Scand.
Josefines bok ‘Josefine’s book’
Split
gen.
Brams boek ‘Bram’s book’
John’s book
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Typology of Poss-s
Proper
names
Common Adjectival
nouns
poss.
Dutch
()
English
Faroese
x
German
()
Mainland
Scand.
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Typology of Poss-s
Pronoun
poss.
Rightedge
Split
gen.
Proper
names
Common Adjectival
nouns
poss.
Mijn vriends boek ‘my friend’s book’
Dutch
()
My friend’s book
English
Pronoun
poss.
Rightedge
Split
gen.
Mijn vriends boek ‘my friend’s book’
My friend’s book
Mein Freunds Eltern haben auch keine Drogen oder sonst was genommen.
Faroese ‘My boyfriend’s
x
parents
didn’t take drugs or anything else either’
Vaters Buch ‘father’s book’
Min väns bok ‘my friend’s book’
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German
()
Mainland
Scand.
Vaters Buch ‘father’s book’
Min väns bok ‘my friend’s book’
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From an internet chat forum: http://www.med1.de/Forum/Sucht/112158/ [accessed 20.5.09]
Typology of Poss-s
Proper
names
Common Adjectival
nouns
poss.
Typology of Poss-s
Pronoun
poss.
Rightedge
Split
gen.
Proper
names
Dutch
()
x
Dutch
English
()
English
Faroese
x
x
Faroese
Close study debunks myth
of the rich's tax burdens
Common Adjectival
nouns
poss.
boek ()
x
Iemands
‘someone’s book’
()
Someone’s
book
x
x
Pronoun
poss.
Rightedge
Split
gen.
x
http://david-crystal.blogspot.com/2009/04/on-richs.html
German
()
x
Mainland
Scand.
De dödas uppståndelse (GSLC: V0187011)
‘the resurrection of the dead’
German
()‘someone’sx book’
Jemands
Buch
Mainland
Scand.
Någons
bok ‘someone’s
book’
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Typology of Poss-s
Proper
names
Dutch
Common Adjectival
nouns
poss.
()
x
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Typology of Poss-s
Pronoun
poss.
Rightedge
Split
gen.
Proper
names
Dutch
x
Common Adjectival
nouns
poss.
Pronoun
poss.
Rightedge
()
x
x
The gentleman’s name with the tape recorder
Split
gen.
x
(BNC: FM7 0008)
English
()shirt
Theleader ofthe council’s
English
()
x Vogelweides
x
x
Walther
von der
Sprache
‘WvdV’s language’
?Anna aus Mannheims Buch
()
x
‘Anna from Mannheim’s book’
x
Faroese
x
x
x
x
x
()
German
()
x
()
x
(BNC: JT7 095)
Faroese
German
(Zifonun 2001)
Mainland
Scand.
Den vanlige mannen på gatans liv (GSLC: V0644021)
‘the common man on the street’s life’
Mainland
Scand.
Dom anställdas synpunkt som ska jobba
med djuren
(GSLC: A0636011)
Kammarrättens i Göteborg beslut
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Recent development in German Poss-s
Recent development in German Poss-s
mein bruders rechner ist so verstellt
My brother.s computer is so altered
‘my brother’s computer has been altered so much’
mein bruders rechner ist so verstellt
My brother.s computer is so altered
‘my brother’s computer has been altered so much’
http://community.games4mac.de/index.php?showtopic=3652&mode=threaded&pid=49203
http://community.games4mac.de/index.php?showtopic=3652&mode=threaded&pid=49203
Von da
an wusste ich, dass mein Lehrers Team hinter uns ist :-)
from there on knew I, that my teacher.s team behind us is
‘I knew from there on that my teacher’s team was behind us’
Von da
an wusste ich, dass mein Lehrers Team hinter uns ist :-)
from there on knew I, that my teacher.s team behind us is
‘I knew from there on that my teacher’s team was behind us’
http://freenet-homepage.de/kessy16/triathlon.html
http://freenet-homepage.de/kessy16/triathlon.html
Corresponds to development observed in older Swedish
and English
Marking only on head of possessor NP
Order: possessor – possessum
-s marker used with masculine possessors and with
feminine possessors...
Meine schwesters Freund hat bald geburtstag
my
sister.s
friend has soon birthday
‘It’s my sister’s boyfriend’s birthday soon’
http://www.gutefrage.net/frage/wo-kann-ich-neon-schwarzlicht-bilder-finden
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Er lud
oft seine und meine Mutters Geschwister ein
he invited often his and my
mother.s siblings
‘He often invited his and my mother’s siblings’
http://einestages.spiegel.de/static/authoralbumbackground/981/als_st_pauli_wirklich_rot_war.html
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Conclusions
References
From a shared starting point, the Germanic languages
Allen, C. L. (2008). Genitives in Early English: Typology and Evidence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Altenberg, B. (1982). The Genitive v. the of-Construction: A Study of Syntactic Variation in 17th Century English. Lund:
CWK Gleerup.
Anderson, S. R. (2005). Aspects of the Theory of Clitics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Börjars, K. (2003). Morphological status and (de) grammaticalisation: the Swedish possessive. Nordic Journal of
Linguistics 26: 133–63.
Burridge, K. (2003). Sentence datives and the grammaticalization of the dative possessive. Evidence from Germanic.
http://www.latrobe.edu.au/linguistics/LaTrobePapersinLinguistics/Vol%2003/03Burridge.pdf.
de Vooys, C. G. N. (1970). Geschiedenis van de Nederlandse taal. Groningen: Wolters-Noordhoff.
Delsing, L.-O. (1998). Possession in Germanic. In Alexiadou, A. & C. Wilder (eds.) Possessors, Predicates and
Movement in the Determiner Phrase. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 87-108.
Di Meola, C. (2004). The rise of the prepositional genitive in German – a grammaticalization phenomenon. Lingua 114:
165-82.
Faarlund, J. T. (2008). Ancient Nordic. In Woodard, R. D. (ed.) The Ancient Languages of Europe. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. 215-29.
Hulshof, H. (1997). Nieuwnederlands (circa 1880-1920). In van den Toorn, M. C. et al. (eds.), 455-477.
Janda, R. (1980). On the decline of declensional systems: the overall loss of OE nominal case inflections and the ME
reanalysis of -es as his. In Traugott, E. C., R. Labrum & S. Shepherd (eds.) Papers from the Fourth International
Conference on Historical Linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 243-52.
Komen, J. A. M. (1997). Morfologie [Nieuwnederlands]. In van den Toorn, M. C. et al. (eds.), 400-419.
Koß, G. (1983). Realisierung von Kasusrelationen in den deutschen Dialekten. In Besch, W., U. Knoop, W. Putschke &
H. E. Wiegand (eds.) Dialektologie: Ein Handbuch zur deutschen und allgemeinen Dialektforschung. Zweiter
Halbband. Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter.
Lehmann, W. P. (1972). Proto-Germanic Syntax. In van Coetsem, F. & H. L. Kufner (eds.) Toward a Grammar of ProtoGermanic. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag. 239-68.
Norde, M. (1997). The history of the genitive in Swedish. A case study in degrammaticalization (PhD dissertation).
University of Amsterdam.
Quak, A. & J. M. van der Horst (2002). Inleiding Oudnederlands. Leuven: Universitaire Pers.
have developed their inventory of possessive expressions
in different ways and at different rates.
Nonetheless, many common trends can be observed.
Cross-linguistically, support for view that Poss-s develops
from genitive (and not from Co-ref pron); use varies
cross-linguistically
German Poss-s developing in same way as English and
Mainland Scandinavian languages
Dutch genitive survives despite lack of case system
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References
Rosenbach, A. (2002). Genitive Variation in English: Conceptual Factors in Synchronic and Diachronic Studies. Berlin,
New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Rosenbach, A., D. Stein & L. Vezzosi (2000). On the history of the s-genitive. In Bermúdez-Otero, R., D. Denison, R.
M. Hogg & C. B. McCully (eds.) Generative Theory and Corpus Studies: A Dialogue from 10 ICEHL. Berlin, New
York: Mouton de Gruyter. 183-210.
Sitta, H. (1998). Der Satz. In Duden. Grammatik der deutschen Gegenwartssprache (Duden Band 4) (6th edition).
Mannheim, etc.: Dudenverlag, 609-858.
te Winkel, J. (1901). Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche taal. Culemborg: Blom & Olivierse.
van den Toorn, M. C., W.J.J. Pijnenburg, J. A. van Leuvensteijn & J. M. van der Horst (eds.). 1997. Geschiedenis van
de Nederlandse Taal. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Vekeman, H. & A. Ecke (1992). Geschichte der niederländischen Sprache. Bern: Peter Lang.
Weerman, F. & P. de Wit (1999). The decline of the genitive in Dutch. Linguistics 37: 1155-92.
Zifonun, G. (2001). Eigennamen in der Narrenschlacht oder: Wie man Walther von der Vogelweide in den Genitiv
setzt. Sprachreport 3/2001: 2-5.
Zifonun, G. (2005). Grammatik des Deutschen im europäischen Vergleich: „Das Pronomen“, Teil III:
Possessivpronomen. Mannheim: Institut für Deutsche Sprache.
Zwicky, A. M. & G. K. Pullum (1983). Cliticization vs. inflection: English n't. Language 59: 502-13.
Thank you.
Authors’ email addresses:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Project website:
http://www.llc.manchester.ac.uk/research/projects/germanic-possessive-s/
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Research funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
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